New book on antisemitism in football: Rich in empirical data, missing out on comparative analyses

Björn Horgby
Örebro University

The sports movement is embedded in a colonial and racist social history. Suddenly, two African-American sprinters, Tommie Smith and John Carlos, stood with lowered heads and raised arms on the podium in Mexico City, as they were about to receive their medals. They protested against racism in the United States. It was also no coincidence that after the Second World War, British and other Western European leaders held many of the leading positions in the global sports movement. From the early 1960s until 1974, Briton Stanley Rous led FIFA, when he was dethroned by Brazilian Football Federation leader Joao Havelange.

Antisemitism in international football also has a long history. The anthology Antisemitism in Football. International Perspectives, edited by Emma Poulton, draws on both the past and today’s antisemitism when discussing elite male football. The study is an example of how sports science research increasingly puts sport in a societal perspective. According to Poulton, antisemitism has been significantly more common in male football than in women’s football. It has turned against clubs, individual players, managers and owners, but also affected the clubs’ fan culture, which in some cases is associated with Jewish identity. The London club Tottenham Hotspurs has been considered “Jewish”. Other European football clubs with the same identity are Ajax in the Netherlands, AS Roma in Italy, MTK Budapest in Hungary, LKS Lodz and KS Cracovia in Poland, FC Bayern Munich in Germany, FK Austria Wien in Austria, and RSC Anderlecht and Royal Antwerp in Belgium.

There are no unambiguous definitions of the term antisemitism. It can be argued that antisemitism is a discriminatory way of defining as “the others” an ethnic group, which in some cases also have a common religion.

The anthology consists of nine country-specific chapters on British, Central and Western European football, as well as one on antisemitism in Argentine football. In addition, Emma Poulton frames the book with an introductory and a concluding chapter. Poulton has also written the England chapter.

As usual for an anthology, the articles treat their subject matter in different ways. This is not least because the contextual conditions are different – both in terms of the historical context and the ways in which male elite football is organized. In addition, the authors solve their tasks in slightly different ways, which is related to different national scientific discourses and the fact that they have not quite defined the problem similarly.

There are no unambiguous definitions of the term antisemitism. It can be argued that antisemitism is a discriminatory way of defining as “the others” an ethnic group, which in some cases also have a common religion. In this delimitation, various forms of prejudice and conspiracy theories play a major role in how ethnic Jews “are” and what they as a generalized collective “do”. It is therefore not necessary to start from a biological racial mindset, in the way that Nazism has done.

A main theme in several articles is that fan culture creates rivalry between clubs for historical reasons, some of which are attributed a Jewish identity, which in turn can lead to antisemitism, but also to the fact that the supporters themselves have partly adopted this identity. However, this approach is not pursued throughout the book, which complicates making national comparisons. For example, I would have liked to know why Bayern Munich has been ascribed a Jewish identity.

In the early 1900s, the London team Tottenham Hotspurs had a large number of Jewish supporters, who helped to create the team’s and the club’s Jewish identity. This has been strengthened by the fact that the team has had, and still has, Jewish players, leaders and owners. In addition, supporters from other London teams have emphasized the club’s Jewish identity and directed anti-Semitic rhetoric at the club, despite the fact that several of the other London teams also have owners and managers of Jewish origin.

In the Netherlands, too, the corresponding rivalry plays a major role in the fact that Ajax from Amsterdam has been ascribed Jewish a identity since the time before World War II. As in the case of Tottenham, Ajax from this time on had a fairly large Jewish fan base. This influenced the club’s fan culture and seems to have survived as a club identity, despite few Jewish players and leaders. From the 1970s and 1980s onwards, a supporter culture developed in the country with elements of hooliganism and antisemitism. The target above all was Ajax. The supporters’ conflict was waged symbolically – where Feyenoord’s supporters brought Palestinian flags and Ajax’s fans countered with Israeli ones. The symbolic conflicts partially disconnected the concept of Jew from its original ethnic and religious context. For Dutch football supporters, it became a concept that related to football, Ajax and Amsterdam.

In Hungary, political power played a greater role in articulating antisemitism than rivalry between clubs. The Budapest team Ferencváros emerged as a Hungarian workers’ team, while MTK was initially rooted in the city’s large Jewish minority. The political convulsions after World War I contributed to the fascist Horthy regime and to widespread anti-Semitic persecution. For a long time, antisemitism did not play a role in the rivalry between Ferencváros and MTK, but it was most significant in a few other clubs, while the political persecution was especially directed against MTK. During the communist era from 1949 onwards, both antisemitism and all religious expressions were initially opposed. Therefore, the regime also sought to change the identities of the clubs. However, this change of club identities failed, and MTK was once again associated with Jewish identity and was once again subjected to anti-Semitic persecution – now often by Ferencváro’s hooligan fans. The racist fan culture was strengthened after the collapse of the communist regime in 1989 – not least in connection with the economic problems of the 1990s. Since then, the problems have lived on.

In the case of AS Roma, the Jewish connection seems to be related to the club’s close relations with the Jewish minority in Rome, which was and still is reinforced by the rivalry with Lazio, where far-right ultras are important in its fan culture. Lazio fans have often subjected Roma to anti-Semitic attacks. Even successful dark-skinned players like Mario Balotelli have repeatedly faced racism in Italy. The authors of the article explain this racism and antisemitism not only by rivalry between clubs and far-right fans, but also by the fact that it is historically rooted in Italian society. The same type of explanation is used in the article on antisemitism in Hungary.

As can be seen, an ascribed Jewish identity, created in rivalry between supporter groups, constitutes an important starting point for antisemitism in football in several countries. In France, antisemitism does not have such roots, but instead societal. In recent years, there have been several anti-Semitic attacks as well as attacks by Muslim fundamentalists, for example against the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo and the Bataclan concert venue in 2015. At the same time, elite male football – especially the national team – has been characterized by multiculturalism and has sought to hide antisemitism – and Islamophobia – rather than highlight them.

The anthology presents interesting empirical data. It has taught me a lot about the political-cultural conditions for elite male football in various Central and Western European countries, for example about the role of Catholicism in the Polish supporter culture. However, I believe that the analysis of the empirical data could have been developed further to become more distinctive. Based on the rather different national contexts, it is difficult to understand why antisemitism within supporter cultures – seen from a longer time perspective – has been considered to have grown and why clubs are smeared with antisemitism. Several articles concern the relationship between political power and antisemitism in football. Therefore, it would be relevant to discuss a little more systematically the role of today’s politically significant right-wing populism in modern antisemitism. One explanation given from the short perspective is the importance of the Israel-Gaza war for growing antisemitism, but the evidence for this is a little too weak for general conclusions.

In the final chapter, Boulton commendably highlights the existence of four kinds of antisemitism – ethnic-religious; politically motivated; those associated with the Holocaust; and one that is tied to the concept of “Jew” as invective – and she discusses the content of the book’s chapter in the light of this categorization. The question, though, is whether it wouldn’t have been even better if the categorization had permeated the book from the start? I think so. Reasonably, each specific country chapter would have presented differently, and they would be open for comparative analyses.

The empirical presentation makes the book highly interesting for those seeking knowledge about the national football cultures around Europe and its connection to antisemitism and racism. However, the book has its limitations if you are looking for general patterns and a deeper understanding of the complicated processes within the supporter cultures and in society at large. A shame, given that there is a strong potential for national comparisons.

Copyright © Björn Horgby 2025